New-look digital scoreboard at Oval
Down with the manual, bring on the technology
Philip Spooner
08-May-2001
Down with the manual, bring on the technology.
This will happen at Kensington Oval tomorrow when, for the first time,
a computerised, electronic scoreboard will be in use at the ground
when West Indies meet South Africa in the fifth and decisive One-Day
International.
The scoreboard, on the roof of the Pickwick Stand at the Joel Garner
(Northern) End, will be lit up thanks to a group from the University
of the West Indies (UWI).
Peter Gibbs and other members of the Department of Computer, Science,
Maths and Physics are behind the initiative.
We have been working all week and we hope all goes well on Wednesday
(tomorrow), Gibbs said at the Oval yesterday.
The idea started from a project at UWI where a student did it as part
of a project and now we have brought it here.
Gibbs is being assisted by Edward Nurse and Charles Clarke, who will
sit alongside the official scorer during the day's play and send
signals via computer to the electronic board. There is no need for
anyone to be physically on the board, which is 24 feet wide and eight
feet high.
Only the numbers on the board are digital. A fully electronic board
would have an alpha-numeric system, thereby displaying numbers and
names in digital format.
The Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad is the only other international
ground in the region with an electronic scoreboard.
Apart from the new scoreboard, Kensington will also have the addition
of terrace seating next to the main scoreboard at the eastern end of
the ground.
Yesterday ground staff worked for ten hours to get the field and pitch
in tip-top shape. The pitch looked devoid of grass, while the field
was lush-green showing no effects of the ongoing drought.
Workmen from TWI International were also busy painting giant logos on
the outfield while the black sightscreens were a dominant feature at
both ends of the ground.